Location

Hayden, ID

Are you a

Librarian

Name of Your Library (if applicable):

Community Library Network

Library Website:

https://communitylibrary.net

LinkedIn URL:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-thielen-49529167

About Me:

Adult programming specialist bringing collaboration and a growth mindset approach to instruction, service, and programming.

• Public libraries
• Programming
• Member of the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT).

I believe the library is bigger than its four walls, and I aim to bring a growth mindset approach to everything I do. Collaboration is my bread and butter. As a librarian serving the community through public libraries, I am daily responsible for signaling to our patrons what librarians are and why we do what we do. One way I do this is by moving out and away from the circulation desk. Big desks are imposing and signal to the authority and unapproachability of librarians. This is not the way. My approach is to come alongside and assist them. Patrons may come looking for something, believing I have special access to it. This is also not the way. They are not recipients of knowledge: they are knowledge creators. Similarly I am not a gatekeeper of information: I am a conduit. Access is “a two-way proposition.”

Please indicate if you are part of a special library group:

Not Applicable